


Hush, little darling

by Moonprincess92



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, F/M, Kid Fic, Single Mum Jyn, Single Parents, kinda i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-17 02:20:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11841936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonprincess92/pseuds/Moonprincess92
Summary: Jyn Erso was really not handling the whole ‘mum’ thing all that well.(IE. the ‘single parent/hot neighbour’ au yall didn’t ask for but get anyway).





	Hush, little darling

Jyn Erso was really not handling the whole ‘mum’ thing all that well.

“She’s still crying! Why won’t she stop crying?” she asked desperately down the speakerphone.

Apparently, nothing good ever happened at 3am.  _Why was it always 3am?_  The squalling mess currently in her arms utterly refused to do as she was told, deciding that sleep was just not for her (and for no one else either, apparently). To top it all off, Jyn’s own mother was miles away, she was now on the verge of a mental breakdown and her entire building was going to start complaining soon since, swear to god, it sounded like a bloody cat being  _murdered_  up in here!

“Look, I know it seems like the demon hates you, but she’s just getting used to the world, ok?” Lyra told her patiently. “She’s only been in it for three months, give her some time.”

“Can’t you come back, Mum?” Jyn asked, not even caring at how her voice wavered. If there was ever a time she needed her mother, it was now, but she had been at her side the last several months and apparently now, it was time for Lyra to give Jyn the space she needed to find her feet.

Though naturally, her first night without her everything had to descend into chaos. 

“You know I would, Jyn,” Lyra sighed. “You know I would.”

“Oh and great, she’s hiccuping too now,” Jyn noted as apparently, Mia still wasn’t happy with her predicament at all. “Mum, I’m literally at my wits end, I don’t know what to do! She’s eaten, but she won’t stop crying or go back to sleep at all, and I’m about to throw myself out the fucking window–”

“How about you try taking her for a walk?” Lyra suggested helplessly. “That’s what I always did when you were being fussy?”

Jyn just shook her head. “God, I bet you’re laughing now, aren’t you?”

Her mother actually had the gall to chuckle at her. “You are such a strong woman, Jyn,” she reminded her. “And you’re a great mother. I believe in you, ok? You go show that little girl of yours who’s boss.”

“Wait, don’t leave me!” Jyn cried, hastily.

“Jyn, it’s 3am. I love you and I love my granddaughter, but you’ve got this. Ok?”

She was about to cry herself, but she answered,

“… ok.”

She hung up the phone, not even caring that the force of it sent the device spinning off the arm of the chair she sat in, hitting the floor with a dull  _clunk_. Jyn stared down at her tiny, crying offspring and tried to get a sense of love back into her. Damn it, she made this thing, she could bloody well get it to calm down!

“Did you hear what Grandma just said?” she told Mia. “I’m the boss. Ok?”

Mia just waved an angry fist at her. Naturally.

Screw it. It might’ve been the middle of the night, but Jyn still stood and bundled up Mia and herself until they were ready to brace England’s chill. She didn’t plan on going far at any rate, so it was relatively easy to just throw on a huge jacket over top of her ratty pyjamas. It wasn’t as if there was going to be anyone around to see her either, except for cats and potential serial killers and hey, if it was the latter, then maybe they’d be doing her favour in offing her? 

“Seriously, if someone comes at me, you gotta run, ok?” Jyn said to the snuffling and whining lump that was currently zipped up under her jacket. Only the very top of Mia’s woolly hat could be seen and Jyn wrapped her arms protectively around her as she walked down the hall. “’cause let’s face it, I’m on my last legs here, I’ll be a fucking gonner. But you, my friend, you’ve got to fight! No one’s allowed to take you this early in your life.”

Mia gave a high-pitched whine as if to say,  _but Muuuuum, my legs are too little to run yet_.

Jyn tsked. “Ok, fine. MAYBE I’ll run as well. But I won’t be happy about it.”

She walked them all the way down to the lobby of her building. The courtyard was usually empty, even during the day, save for the overflowing rubbish skips and broken patio furniture so it was probably the best place to take a baby that just wouldn’t calm down. She pushed open the door and together, they stepped out into the cold. Jyn shivered at the breeze that blew around her thin pyjama pants and she hugged Mia tighter to her chest.

“The things I do for you,” she muttered.

Honestly, she hadn’t asked for any of this. Ask anyone and they’d say that Jyn Erso was the last person in the world they’d ever expect to accidentally become a mother. But a lot of tequila and an ex showing up last minute at a friend’s birthday party roughly a year ago had led to some pretty poor choices on her account, and poor Bodhi had been the first person she’d called when she had finally figured out why she’d been so sick recently.

“OH MY GOD, YOU’RE DYING AREN’T YOU?” he had immediately insisted from the look on her face.

“Worse,” she’d said. “I’m pregnant.”

“… holy fuck,” Bodhi had said in astonishment.

Holy fuck had been about right.

But Jyn, never one to shy away from a challenge, had taken to it with gusto. She almost thought it was sheer determination to prove everyone wrong that made her throw herself so intensely into it. She had honestly cried for days after finding out. However, at the end of it, Jyn had found herself getting up from her Bed of Pain, wiping her eyes, and walking straight to the nearest baby shop. She’d ended up reading every goddamn pregnancy book that she could find. She’d forced herself to call up her ex and tell him (only to find out that he was apparently getting married in a month, so thankfully that phone call had been rather short). She’d begged Bodhi to come with her to every appointment and even worked up the courage to eventually tell her mother. The Erso’s did not do things lightly, and Jyn had no doubt that her daughter would be no different some day.

She was suddenly drawn up short when she realised that she wasn’t actually alone in the dark courtyard.

A man sat in one of the few chairs that wasn’t currently broken. She vaguely recognised him from living in the building at least, but she was brought to a complete stop at the unexpected company. He glanced around at the sudden entrance of a shrieking baby and she found herself blurting out,

“Sorry, I didn’t realise it got this crowded at three in the morning.”

The man looked utterly mortified. “I’m so sorry!” he was half out if his chair already. “Did you want to sit down? I can leave–”

“No, no, it’s fine!” Jyn reassured him, quickly. “Just so long as you don’t mind the screaming, I guess.”

“I don’t mind,” he said. When he noticed that she was aiming for another chair he was quick to leap up and pull it out for her. Jyn rolled her eyes a little, but still thanked him before sitting down.

Apparently, the change of scenery was enough of a jolt to shock Mia into calming and Jyn desperately encouraged her, stroking her head gently. It was several minutes before she even thought to be self-conscious. 

“She won’t go back to sleep,” she explained when she noticed the man unable to stop watching.

“Right,” he nodded, politely. “Um, how old is she?”

“She’s been fucking my life up for about 3 months now,” Jyn answered. “Her name’s Mia.”

The man tried not to laugh too much. “That’s a nice name, how did you come up with it?”

_HA, well, I watched The Princess Diaries one night while I was six months pregnant and got SUPER emotional about it?_

“Yeah, um,” Jyn coughed. “It’s my mum’s name?” 

Thankfully, the man had no idea that she was blatantly lying. He sat at the table next to her, apparently totally content to share the space with a baby and her still-in-a-constant-state-of-internally-screaming mother. May the lord be on her side though, since Mia was actually miraculously staying calm for now. She snuffled and was still alert, but she wasn’t crying anymore at least! Afraid to jinx it, Jyn tentatively stopped stroking and instead remained still.

“Oh, thank god,” she groaned, letting her head fall back in triumph.

The man laughed a little. “Finally quiet?”

“If I fall asleep here, would you do me a favour and get us a blanket?”

“Of course,” he said.

“You’re new, right?” Jyn asked. If she didn’t talk she really would fall asleep, and while the chill wasn’t too bad right now, she had a feeling that they would become human ice lollies by morning if they actually stayed out here too long. “I think I remember you moving in …”

“Yes, I’ve only been here a few months,” the man said.

“Right, probably around the same time that I looked like a beached whale,” she replied. “I’m Jyn, by the way.”

“Cassian,” he introduced himself. “Nice to meet you and the little one.”

“Ha, it’s all right, you don’t have to pretend,” Jyn snorted. “I know she’s got to be keeping the entire building awake.”

“I don’t hear her,” Cassian tried to reassure.

“You’re nice, but I know she’s got vocal cords like an air horn.”

As if on cue, that was about when Mia started fussing again. “No, noooo!” Jyn whined in utter horror. Despite her best efforts, Mia’s grizzling just slowly escalated into another full-blown crying fit. Did her daughter honestly hate her? She was starting to feel like she did at this point. She pressed a hand desperately to her eyes to try and force her own tears back because for god’s sake, she wasn’t about to cry in front of her new neighbour! Sure, she hadn’t slept for hours and she was slowly going insane, but she needed to maintain at least a little dignity here.

Apparently, Cassian felt sorry for her or something.  

“Hey … I don’t know whether you’d want …” he began hesitantly. “Um, but I could try holding her maybe, if you think that could work or …?”

Jyn glanced back up, sniffing slightly. “Holy shit, would you?”

“Oh – only if you –”

“Because don’t just be saying that,” she warned. “You’ve offered up your services, I’m accepting, you can’t take it back!”

It seemed that Cassian hadn't quite thought the entire offer through, but he still gritted his teeth and held out his arms. It took a few moments to dig through all the layers of jackets and slings, but eventually Jyn was handing her baby over to who was essentially still a total stranger. He seemed a little wary, but he also cuddled Mia close in a way that told her that he’d definitely done this kind of thing before. Jyn offered him the blanket that Mia had been wrapped in, and he added it back around her, letting the baby rest her little head against his shoulder. They both watched with bated breath as amazingly … Mia stopped crying.

“It’s a miracle,” Jyn threw up her hands. “I hope you realise that this means you’re coming home with me now.”

Cassian spluttered a little and she immediately regretted the words. Blimey, didn’t she ever think before speaking? She normally wouldn’t get quite so embarrassed, but a rather attractive stranger was holding her baby at 3am, and the image was doing quite a lot of things to her that she was rather ashamed to admit.  “Sorry, I apparently make inappropriate jokes when I’m sleep deprived,” she hastily said, cheeks burning.

“It’s fine,” he answered, coughing slightly as he smiled at her.

 _Hoo boy, now THAT’S a smile_.

“So go on,” she added. “You know why I’m out here, but why are you?

She was only trying to keep things light. Really! But she should have known that the topic was on the heavy side just from the sheer fact that he was sitting out here this early in the morning in the first place. She was really going all out on the personal mortification, wasn’t she? It was only a quick wince, but she noticed the look and regretted her question immediately. She almost took it back, but before she could, he said,

“I … don’t sleep very well.”

“Shit, I’m sorry,” Jyn blurted out. “I shouldn’t have asked, I didn’t mean –”

“No, no, it’s ok,” Cassian assured her. “You don’t get too many people awake at this time, after all.”

“Maybe we’ll have to talk again then, sometime,” Jyn mentioned. “You know, at a more reasonable hour.”

“Oh, reasonable hours are overrated,” Cassian shrugged. He glanced down at Mia then and added, “She’s quiet, that’s good right?”

“I’m honestly praying it stays that way,” she said. “Are you all right, I can take her back if you want–”

“I don’t mind–”

“Ok,” Jyn laughed a little at both their eagerness. It apparently hadn’t taken her long to find the hottest babysitter in all of England ( _not that she’d ever admit that, Bodhi would have a bloody field day_ ). “Maybe you could walk her back up to my flat, then?”

“Of course.”

They made their way slowly, Cassian not wanting to jostle the now-nodding-off Mia too much and Jyn just lingering. They chatted their way up the stairs and down the hallways. She learned that Cassian had apparently moved to England five years ago and that a new job had brought him to the city. He apparently had a lot of nieces and nephews, which explained his ease at handling babies, and he in turn found out that the father of her baby wasn’t exactly around.

“Yeah, he knows but he’s not exactly bothered with her,” Jyn shrugged, just as they were reaching her floor. “I don’t really mind, I was even a little relieved to be honest.”

“If it helps,” Cassian put out there. “I think you’re doing a great job by yourself so far.”

Jyn scuffed her feet as she walked. “Thanks.”

By the time they reached her front door, she could barely see straight from tiredness. Thankfully, Mia had apparently finally worn herself out and was now sound asleep against Cassian’s shoulder. They carefully transferred her back over to Jyn’s arms and for a moment, they hovered uncertainly in the hallway. What was she even supposed to say after this?

“Thank you,” she decided to start with. “Honestly, you literally saved my arse.”

“It was no problem,” Cassian insisted. “I hope the rest of your night goes well.”

“Trust me, I am probably going to crash as soon as I hit my pillow. Sorry you had to see me at my worst crying, early morning meltdown stage,” She then suddenly felt the need to add, “Hey, but um … I was serious earlier. Hit me up if you ever want to hang out when I’m fully conscious, I know it sucks moving somewhere new and not knowing anyone.”

Cassian smiled and god help her, she felt it wedge its way into her chest and shiver down her spine.

“I’d like that.”

“I like him,” Jyn whispered to Mia later, once she had closed the door on Cassian. She settled the sleeping baby back in her cot as she added, “What d’you think, huh? My taste in men getting better or worse?”

Mia just let out a snorting breath.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Jyn sighed. “God, I’m nuts. Love you, Insane Child.”

She was asleep within minutes of crawling into bed.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know where this came from. All I know is that I needed it desperately, SOOOOOOOOO HERE WE ARE :D   
> (I am not a mother though, so please correct me/inform me if I got anything wrong!)   
> (ALSO, this is definitely currently a oneshot, but I maaaaay be convinced to continue in the future hahaha)   
> THANK YOU FOR READING FAM! LET ME KNOW IF YOU LIKE IT!!!   
> I love yall (and as always, come scream at me on tumblr @moonprincess92nz)  
> xoxoxo


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